This article in The Hechinger Report looks at the current turmoil surrounding Teach for America. It is sending young people to take jobs away from experienced teachers. There is a growing movement to resist TFA on college campuses, started by young people who aim for a career in teaching, not a bullet point on their resume. Meanwhile, the key staff jobs in Congress are held by former members of TFA, placed there strategically to protect TFA’s interests. And, most disturbingly, TFA has become the labor force for the privatization movement, the young people who staff privately managed charters. Not coincidentally, TFA is a favorite of the far-right Walton Family Foundation, which is devoted to vouchers and charters, while snubbing public schools.
Teach for America is a paradox. The young people who enter its program are idealistic, bright, and generally very admirable. The organization is cunning, ambitious, highly political, and supplying the cheap labor to privatize America’s public schools and undermine the teaching profession.
The young people who join TFA are eager to serve. The organization TFA seems remarkably self-serving.
Whereas TFA began with the promise of placing its inexperienced young teachers–fresh college graduates with only five weeks of training–where they were needed most, TFA is now sending its recruits to districts where they are not needed at all, where there are no teacher shortages, where experienced teachers are being laid off and replaced by the cheap labor of TFA. For policymakers, it is a calculated decision to save money. After all, few TFA will stick around long enough to earn a high salary or to qualify for a pension. Step by step, TFA is making the case that teachers need no preparation to be “great” teachers,, even though it is not true, even though no high-performing nation would place amateurs in the classroom as full teachers, even though their claim in effect says that there is no such thing as a teaching profession.
Perhaps it is no accident that the highest profile alums of TFA are leaders of the privatization movement, like Michelle Rhee, John White, Bobby Jindal’s Commissioner of Education in Louuisiana, and Kevin Huffman, Governor Haslam’s Commissioner of Education in Tennessee, and Erik Guckian, senior education advisor to far-right North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory.
With more and more alums and college students aware that TFA has become a pawn of the privatization movement, what will idealistic young people think of the organization in the future? Where did TFA’s idealism go?
“Meanwhile, the key staff jobs in Congress are held by former members of TFA, placed there strategically to protect TFA’s interests.”
And never forget, one tangible interest is the $50 million a year from the Feds, even though TFA extracts a ~$4000 finder’s fee from school districts.
I had an immediate reaction to this part of the article, “TFA is now sending its recruits to districts where they are not needed at all, where there are no teacher shortages, where experienced teachers are being laid off and replaced by the cheap labor of TFA. For policymakers, it is a calculated decision to save money…”
This is so true. There is an added dimension. Having TFA on board in a school district with money to pay for an influx of more TFA’s, gives the powers that be a lot of leverage to continue weakening the unions bargaining (some unions unlike NYC which have always been weak). If a veteran teacher doesn’t like something in the new contract, so be it because there are plenty of potential TFA’s who will now be waiting in the wing. Recently, a mega millionaire who owns National Harbor lands, gave a lot of money to fund an increase in TFA in Prince George’s County MD where large numbers of veteran teachers nearing retirement are fed up with all the top down reforms and are leaving in droves (aka top down reforms from Duncan.. RTTT Common Core SLO’s, Danielson high stakes testing…). Because the district is losing many teachers, they have been trying to fill spaces. But, salaries are not comparable to other counties like Montgomery and Howard and so many teachers are leaving for these counties as well. TFA will save PG county money, create a larger work force of teachers (who for bottom line convience , will leave every two years and thus alleviated strain on retirement costs but will seriously have a horrific impact on the quality of education for the students (who already are behind the 8 ball due to the fact that many come from long term impoverished family backgrounds).
Exactly why I left PG County my first two years of teaching…and am now possibly leaving the teaching profession altogether…
A similar analysis appears in the May 5, 2014 issue of The Nation magazine entitled “Teach For America’s Growing Pains” by Alexandra Hootnick.
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And yet, at the same time as he’s plugging TFA, Arne Duncan is slamming traditional teacher preparation schools and wanting to shut down the “bad schools.” Yet TFA teachers get only five weeks of training. Can’t have it both ways, Arne.
It goes along with the narrative that teachers at traditional training programs come from “the bottom half of their class”. TFA, on the other hand, are the “best and brightest”. Clearly “smart” people only need five weeks of training to become master teachers. Those “dumb” folks, on the other hand, can’t seem to manage to be decent teachers even with five years of education.
This narrative even pervades the pro-public education side. I just finished reading David Greene’s DOING THE RIGHT THING: A TEACHER SPEAKS, which came highly recommended. Even he buys into the whole “dumb teacher/smart TFA” thing.
I don’t even know where that statistic comes from, what it even means or how true it is, but to whatever extent it’s true I fail to see why it matters. As I’ve said before, there’s nothing inherent in being “smart” (in a test-taking sort of way) that makes one a good teacher. Teaching is about forming relationships and making connections in order to find the best means of inspiring students and helping them understand concepts, which is something a lot of “smart” people have trouble doing, especially if they’ve never known for themselves what it’s like to struggle to understand something.
Unfortunately there is a grain of truth to the narrative that our current teachers are not, on average, the cream of the crop. But this lack of teacher brilliance is not the huge problem it’s made out to be. Experience and a good curriculum can make a non-brilliant teacher into a good teacher.
This bias in favor of the “best and brightest” dovetails with the pervasive ageism in our society, especially among the techie elite who are driving this transformation of education. The New Republic recently had a cover story on ageism in Silicon Valley that reported many thirty-something men and women are getting plastic surgery to look younger. In tech and education (and maybe other fields), there is bigotry against the old.
The old tech workers and teachers of the Bay Area should get together and march on Google headquarters with signs like “Obsolete. Where can I be recycled?” and “It’s my fault I’m unemployed: I got old.” “Note to young Google workers: save all your salary; you will be discarded soon.”
There is NO “grain of truth” that teachers are stupid. Stop repeating reformists’ lies about SAT scores and all of that rot. SAT scores don’t measure intelligence or anything other than preparation for college.
It’s basically sexist thinking because teaching has traditionally considered women’s work.
That’s exactly backward. SAT scores are correlated with g–the so-called “general intelligence factor” measured by IQ tests (there are many problems with that characterization, but I won’t go into them here). They are not strongly correlated with success in college. That’s why the name was changed from the Scholastic Aptitude Test to the Scholastic Reasoning Test or, simply, the SAT. Somewhere between those two, the name was changed, for a time, to the Scholastic Achievement Test, but the SAT measured achievement as invalidly as it did aptitude, so that was dropped too.
Good point, Ponderosa. I’ve known of several companies where new, young leaders took over and then systematically set about getting rid of almost all the older workers, retaining only those who had knowledge that was absolutely essential and could not be found among younger employees. Age discrimination is almost impossible to prove. Suddenly, after a few months, the average age of the staff has dropped by 10, 15, 20 years.
This is a pervasive problem. The stats are clear. Older unemployed workers remain unemployed much, much longer. From the AARP:
On average, it takes a similarly qualified person age 55 or over three months longer to find a job than a younger person.
Age discrimination charges filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission now account for a nearly a quarter of all complaints. In 2011, the EEOC received 23,465 age-related charges, up from 16,548 in 2006.
AARP’s findings. A new survey by AARP released today is further evidence of the serious toll older workers face from employer ageism. In May, the telephone poll of 1000 registered voters 50 and older found that over one-third reported that they or someone they know has experienced age discrimination in the last four years. Sixty-four percent of respondents think that people over age 50 face age discrimination in the workplace.
“Experience and a good curriculum can make a non-brilliant teacher into a good teacher.” Ponderosa
“Teaching is about forming relationships and making connections in order to find the best means of inspiring students and helping them understand concepts, which is something a lot of “smart” people have trouble doing, especially if they’ve never known for themselves what it’s like to struggle to understand something.” Dienne
Instead of talking about brilliance and smartness, I wish we would think about aptitude. Some people are “born teachers” because they have an aptitude, a gift for engaging students in learning. We have all seen and admired those women and men who make teaching seem effortless. They get what learning is all about, just as they get what teaching is all about. And they hone their craft because they are passionate about teaching AND learning. They thrive on getting to know their students, getting to know content, and finding the best ways to reach each child–both from “book learning” and from studying their students. To accomplish this takes a lifetime’s commitment to the craft.
To me, this is a different kind of “brightest and best”, of being “smart”. I wish that we would start seeing our ability to know our students, know our content, to be able to use our craft effectively to educate the children who walk into our classrooms, with the limited resources we have…as nothing short of brilliance. To get up each morning, regardless of the weather, regardless of whether we or a family member is sick, to walk into our classroom and prepare it and ourselves for the day, so much so that many of our young students may believe that we live at school…is heroic in the face of today’s attack on the teaching profession.
Brilliantly heroic… It sounds like something Shakespeare might have written.
TFA’s entry requirements have a very low bar of a C- bachelor’s degree…. not exactly the ‘best and the brightest’…
According to Linda Gotfredson the IQ’s of teachers in the US range from about 110-140. Teachers at the high school level probably are more shifted to the higher end of that range compared with teachers in the elementary grades.
It’s perfectly possible for someone to have both a very high IQ and be very knowledgable about a subject yet be a poor teacher. The brilliant mathematician John Von Neumann was notarious for being a terrible teacher.
JIm,
This quote from your post is very offensive – “Teachers at the high school level probably are more shifted to the higher end of that range compared with teachers in the elementary grades.” Some of the brightest people I know are elementary teachers. To be a good teacher of any age requires a stellar understanding of child psychology and immense background knowledge. Teaching is much more than content which is part of what high school teachers need to succeed. If we want educators to have the respect they deserve then we have to quit making demeaning assumptions like this.
I’m tired of people saying “well the kids who do TFA are alright it’s the organization that’s the problem.”
It’s not true. With out recruits there would be no TFA. I consciously decide not to join the organization because I recognized that teaching without experience was a disservice and I justice to our nations under served youth. With out members there can be no organization. There is no excuse for supporting an organization that exacerbates injustice and for being an uninformed member of the TFA corps.
And not all of its members are so idealistic. Most people I know joined it for a blip on their resume because the needed a boost for law school. Using under served youth to get into law school is not idealistic. It’s borderline imperialistic and absolutley unethical. TFA corps members have college degrees. They should know better.
Thank you. This needs to be said. There should be shame associated with doing TFA. It’s a selfish choice and the wrong one. I know many amazing human beings who bought into the rhetoric and did TFA, but now openly oppose the injustices and outrages this organization represents. No more excuses, with all the recent criticism and truth-telling flooding the internet/college campuses, no one should ever choose to do TFA. Ever.
Amen
Let’s also not forget the over-the-top paternalism and condescension expressed by so many of these folks, and how they advertise their “passion” to “save those children.”
What you said.
😎
Katie,
I’m ashamed of doing TFA and I was a 96 Corps Member. I don’t put TFA on my resume or fess up to it unless directly asked, because I value my reputation as a dedicated, knowledgeable, lifelong educator. I have spent 18 years watching Corps Members come and go. So many things have disappointed me about TFA over the years, but my recent experiences as an instructor in their JHU Masters program left me feeling that there is no hope for this organization to regain its moral compass. While preaching the power of high expectations, TFAers leave Johns Hopkins University with artificially inflated GPAs and a Masters degree that they do NOT deserve. They have done a fraction of the work that other Grad students in similar programs in the School of Education are required to complete, with virtually no expectations as to the quality or timeliness of their assignments. The courses are created by Laureate Education and the professors are almost all TFA alums, some of whom have as few as 5 years experience and manage to teach 5 graduate level TFA sections while working for Baltimore City Schools full time as well. I keep hoping that someone will write an article about this part of the TFA attempt to convince the world that CMs are the smartest and hardest working teachers around, especially now that they have expanded this rigorous program, that was so carefully crafted to bring about transformational teaching, to several other regions. Of course nobody wants to talk about these things because that MS Ed degree is pretty much a jobs program for the alums that are “teaching” the 85+ sections of TFA only classes. If I were a student at Hopkins, I would be livid that other grad students can submit all assignments as late as they want (with strict limits on the amount of points that can be deducted) and resubmit every assignment to ensure that they can get a better grade. If I were a parent of a student in a public school, I would be outraged that my child’s teacher could plagiarize graduate work with impunity while standing in a classroom lecturing students about integrity and perseverance.
To Jennifer on this thread, seems you can write something on the role of universities in training teach for America corps members. I was a 2011 corps member myself and know that many of those assignments in that first year were pushed off or made insignificant for the corps members, and I know, having gone through a traditional teaching program, that would not have been okay. Much of this information is not public knowledge, and it’s on us who know what’s happening and what’s wrong to let people know, too.
Jennifer- That was exactly why I decided NOT to attend Hopkins for my Masters in Education. I made it a rule that I would not attend a University that supports TFA.
Thank you Newteacher. I agree 100%. Most (99%) of the individual TFA alums I have met are “cunning, ambitious, highly political” – they came to La. with an eye toward complete domination of the education system, and they have succeeded. Once some got hired in leadership positions, they proceeded to only hire TFA alums and push out anyone who was older or asked too many questions about their motives or methods. Many joined TFA during the financial downturn when they couldn’t get their desired job in finance or corporate management – so not real altruistic. And, let’s not forget that TFA promises to pay off their high-cost ivy league education if they obtain a job in education leadership.
So, no, I definitely don’t think it’s ok to continue to present TFA corps members as idealistic do-gooders – I’ll cut some slack for the first few corps years, but beyond that, new corps members are fully aware of the “perks” available to them after they put in their 2 years. To pretend otherwise is completely naive and allows both the individuals and organization to hide behind a charitable facade while they are, in fact, raiding the henhouse.
More and more TFA are running and winning seats on BOEs. Their eager-beaver I know all about teaching attitude is exhibited well. They speak of being teachers, having taught, knowing what needs to be taught, know all about kids, and know exactly what a good teacher should know and do. Arrogance and a false & über inflated sense of self esteem in a field they dabbled in, and had little contact with RealTeachers.
One of these 5 week wonders is now BOE chair of a large urban school system in the South. He told me that he can tell within 15 sec if a teacher is of quality. Of course, I questioned him. He was firm on his belief! 15 sec, that’s all it takes by a 5week trained BOE Chair, who compares himself to Dr. Benjamin E. Mays – who was a BOE chair years ago, in the same system. You, Mr.5week wonder TFA are No Dr.Benjamin E. Mays! Ever!
Now,this same Board has several 5week wonder former TFA, who ARE TEACHERS according to anyone in this city. FINALLY, THERE ARE TEACHERS ON THE BOARD!? What a miserable tragedy! The Board chair is not even 30 years old. His tweets reflect his developmental age. He was on the BOE during the biggest cheating scandal and said nothing, did nothing, but HE WAS A TEACHER! Now a TEACHER BOARD CHAIR.
TFA types tend to exhibit a perky energetic confident personality. That is the selling point. The All American ideal kid! The kid we all thought we would have, raise and would make us proud. Instead, ZITS emerged and we worked extra hard making sure they grew up and became productive citizens. TFA looks for the appearance of our vision of the perfect kid. Once found, they can play a teacher who can BS their way through the actual teacher training content, and be a RealTeacher at the end. Works for many. Working for public policy foundations, research stats groups, BOEs, think tanks, etc…easy transition. They are the BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE of Education. The Kardashian’s (sp?) of Ed!
They would never be caught dead in seasonal holiday sweaters, worn specifically for their students. Are you kidding?
A TFA scary scenario repeated around the country.
Oh, yes, I know all to well about TFA buying, I mean winnng, seats on BOEs. I live in Nashville, TN, where a seat on our local board in my district was “won” by Elissa Kim in 2012. She took her seat from the former board chair and long-time dedicated community member, Gracie Porter. From the City Paper: “With her $81,414 fundraising mark, Kim outpaced Porter, the board chair, in the District 5 race by margin of more than 4 to 1.” Elissa Kim “shattered previous fundraising records for school board races in Nashville”. “30 percent of her dollars from individuals who don’t live in Tennessee, including a handful employed at high-profile private equity firms.”
My district (where Kim won) in located in East Nashville, an urban neighborhood. Not long after she won, Elissa Kim moved to the suburbs.
If I, as the parent of an elementary student in the public school system here in Davidson County, ever need any support or have a question, I always go to a board member from another district. I don’t trust her.
Here is the link to an article explaining more about the 2012 election in Nashville: http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-news/metro-school-board-becomes-arena-political-class-biz-execs
TFA hasn’t hit our district yet but I”m sure it’s coming. We have huge budget problems and they are offering enticing retirement bonuses to get rid of the people with experience who cost more to employ and replacing them with new teachers who are much less expensive to hire. There is certainly a place for youth and enthusiasm in schools but there is also a very large place for wisdom and experience. When I see the talented people retiring because they don’t believe in where education is headed it makes me so sad for our nations’ children.
Teach for America: Is the Mirage Gone?
TFA is the new Peace Corps for rich kids…join and do your time and you’ll be rewarded with a very good politically related job. I had friends in college, in the late 70s, who went into the Peace Corps with the intention of going into politics later. They said it looked really good on your resume. I didn’t come from that kind of money (Northshore Chicago) so I had no idea what they were talking about…but I sure do now.
Exactly, cary444! Volunteerism is an exciting luxury to behold…
Yesterday (Friday) morning, i was in a neighborhood supermarket when a large class of youngsters from a nearby charter school came in with their barely older teachers, whom I rather assume were TFA; they all looked as if they were in their early 20s. The teachers looked stressed out and exhausted. I wasn’t sure what they were doing there, other than, perhaps, getting these 6-7-year-olds out of the building while the older children took the state math exams. The store was too crowded for there to be any interaction between teachers and students, other than sharp reminders for the children to not touch, not get in the way, not to clump together. It looked awfully unscripted for this notoriously scripted charter school, and that, possibly, is why the teachers had that deer-in-the-headlights look; they truly didn’t seem to see how to make this expedition a genuine learning experience. It is also possible that no-one could have done so under these conditions, but I wonder if trained educators would have, at least, realized this and scheduled a field trip that offered more to these children.
Check out Havard’s Doctoral program for Admin. Look who are accepted into it. Scary
There are some excellent articles on TFA in the recent issue of Rethinking Schools (rethinkingschools.org), including one framed as an open letter to TFA recruits explaining why they should quit. It highlights the distinction between the idealism of many TFA recruits and the cynicism of the organization.
This letter sounds just like the one I sent to every politician I know, along with people at corporations like The Walton and Bill Gates Foundations after my daughter walked away from TFA. I am a veteran teacher and now supervise student teachers. The word is getting out slowly but we need to keep helping young, well meaning college grads what TFA is all about. Their connection with charter schools will lead to the downfall of public education if we don’t fight back.
Maybe TFAer’s idealism was never there. Maybe they view the job as a temporary answer to dissolve college debt. Just as people who join the Peace Corp didn’t think that would be their final profession, TFAers see a way to work, go back to school for a Masters and dissolve college debt all in one program. While it is useful for them, the older, veteran teachers that they are replacing is not a thought on their mind. I’m not blaming these young people for trying to get a leg up but do you really think you can do what veteran teachers do, that you can know what they do in 5 weeks of training. Enthusiam only goes so far, then actual best practices and strategies need to be in place. If TFAers really want to teach then I challenge them to really learn how to teach and kids, it will take more than 5 weeks. It won’t pay well and it will require long hours and much patience. But, if you do it right, all the fulfillment and satisfaction a real profession brings.
Yeah, kids in inner cities are equal to kids in third world countries. TFA has no right to exist and has no right to belong on the AmeriCorps program.
I think there are enough problems in education that whatever can be done should be done. I have always seen this group as boon to us as teachers. We can’t do it all; besides we do not have a monopoly on the ability to teach. Many parents have done a splendid if not better job, many reasons for that. Where we public teachers excel is in teaching large-scale groups,the average person has a hard time understanding what that is like.
If TFA changed its focus to recruit and encourage graduating high school students and college freshmen to actually major in education and become teachers (as a career), I’d have a lot more respect for the organization.
I have no respect for them at all. There was NEVER any need for a TFA to begin with because there has NEVER been a “teacher shortage” in the history of the United States. What has happened is there are teacher gluts in some areas and “shortages” in other geographical areas. However, there are far more teacher candidates graduating from college than there are available positions.
TFAs are basically glorified scabs.
I think you make a good point. It does disappoint me when people who are seriously considering teaching decide not to pursue it (for a variety of reasons). As one who has taught teacher education courses, I would like to see even more rigorous requirements to gain entry into our profession. Of course, that would exclude the current model of “TFA-ing” one’s way into the classroom.
TFA needs to be made illegal. It is unconstitutional for kids in poorer schools to have unqualified, uncertified “teachers” while kids in wealthier areas have fully credentialed teachers. This is an example of unequal education.
Lets face it. Jobs are hard to come by these days. Some of these “best and brightest” got all the way to Princeton, Harvard, Yale, and yet their connections can’t get them jobs in the moment, or pay off some of their student debt the way TFA does, or give them housing benefits and a salary, and something that looks benevolent and selfless on their resumes when they return to grad school or go on to law school or get that job on Wall Street. There are an incredible amount of perks that come along with teaching for TFA. Some colleges even give grants to their chosen TFA recruits and promise them bonuses as a sign on and after their 2 year stint is up. These bonuses are generally in the $5,000 area, and given by foundations made up of alumni. So in addition to being GUARANTEED a job at the exclusion of any competition, including taking jobs from certified experienced teachers, they are paid, given bonuses, reduced housing payments (omg, think Teacher’s Village in Newark coming soon…what a travesty), they also get masters degrees given to them by the same hacks that hired them. Wendy Kopp should be ashamed of herself. There is nothing benevolent about this mission at all. Its a bunch of greedy “haves” raping the public of its hard earned tax dollars. The fact that the government during the last shut down managed to funnel money to TFA makes me ill. I do not want my tax dollars going to these scums. The KIDs should wise up and not apply to TFA, but then again, TFA dangles so many attractive carrots under their noses, and the type of kids who take these positions, well, aren’t they used to getting lots of perks handed to them their entire lives? Do I have that wrong? Isn’t TFA just an “elite” temp agency made to fill their pockets and give temp jobs to their own kind? I’m sorry I’m all over the map on this post, but it just sickens me. People need to wise up and stop these thieves in their tracks.
Diane,
I really wish you would knock it off with the “far right” xxxx all the time. I’ll bet that if you looked at Walton’s full donation list, you would find a lot of groups that are not specifically right-wing. Even if that is not the case, however, the fact that so much of the anti-CCSS/anti-reformy energy right now is coming from conservatives should maybe tell you that you that it isn’t a great idea to actively work to divide the pushback movement along normal political/ideological faultlines. There are many people of many different beliefs who are fighting what the elites left and right are trying to impose on us and our kids — let’s concentrate on that, rather than the other stuff.
Jack Talbot, sorry we disagree. The Walton Family Foundation is anti-union and anti-public education. I call that far right. Call it whatever you want.
O.K., so you would rather score ideological points than unite against the bipartisan forces killing public education. Sadly noted.
Reblogged this on learningteachingventing and commented:
Thanks Diane Ravitch for this succinct overview of TFA, its faulty reasoning, and its dangerous anti-union and anti-education actions.
I am working on a doctoral research project inspired by Diane’s book, Death and Life of the Great American School System (2011). If the public school system–as many of us knew it, at least–is dead or near death, it would stand to reason that public school teachers who remember the system as it was prior to No Child Left Behind (2002) have experienced loss and grief. If you remember what it was like to teach prior to No Child Left Behind, if you feel as if teaching completely changed when No Child Left Behind was implemented, or if you ever felt saddened by some of the changes that resulted from educational reform, then you may be interested in taking my survey.
Professional Loss and Grief in Teachers (a survey)
https://ndstate.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_5nCLnPAFadWZX93
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